Volunteers Award 2017 winners announced

In addition, the committee of the Bayer 04 Sportförderung gGmbH have decided to present runners-up SC Leverkusen 2017 e.V. and Tabalingo Sports & Kultur – integrativ e.V. (both FVM) with a prize of €2,000 each for their youth work.The presentation will be made at the home game against RB Leipzig.

LARGE NUMBER OF OUTSTANDING APPLICATIONS

The award and related prize money to the total of €16,000 are aimed at particularly committed clubs from the Middle Rhine (FVM) and Lower Rhine (FVN) Football Associations. "It's a great pleasure every year to see the outstanding voluntary work that the clubs do for the benefit of society," declared Michael Schade, CEO of Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH and Bayer 04 Sportförderung gGmbH. "The large number of really outstanding applications has made it particularly difficult for the committee to decide this year's winners."

 In recognition of their efforts, delegations from all 55 clubs that applied for the Volunteers Award this season have been invited to the Bundesliga home match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FSV Mainz 05 on Sunday 28th of January at the BayArena (1530 CET).

BSV Viktoria Bielstein 1920 e.V. (FVM) have made it their business to promote local integration work through sport. "Our club wants to help people looking to set up a new home in Wiehl," said Christof Fries, chair of BSV Viktoria Bielstein, in describing the voluntary commitment at the club. To make sure that campaign succeeded, the club brought in an integration officer around two years ago that also serves as a contact point for local refugee support groups. The voluntary commitment is not just limited to training and matches for the football club. Communal activities away from the sports ground are also part of the portfolio of the amateur club from Wiehl. This has already resulted in over 40 families with a refugee background being integrated into club life. 

SV Fortuna Millingen 1920 e.V. (FVN) are also involved in working on integration. The proximity of the pitch of the amateur club from Rees to a reception point for asylum seekers has proved to be big part of developing a true culture of hospitality. Working together with local partners, valuable integration work has been achieved on and off the football pitch. In addition, SV Fortuna Millingen have already worked with a local kindergarten as well as local primary schools for several years. This enables the club to provide sporting opportunities for the local education establishments and also organise them and carry them out. The committee were primarily impressed by the sustainable effect of the commitment.

 Bayer 04 Leverkusen Sportförderung gGmbH was founded in 2007 with the aim of promoting volunteering in football. With the help of the annual Volunteers Award, 34 clubs from the Middle Rhine (FVM) and Lower Rhine (FVN) Football Associations have received over €175,000 in financial support.